1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly, to an oil separator for air conditioners that is capable of separating oil from refrigerant.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, an air conditioner is an apparatus used to cool or heat the interiors of houses, restaurants or office buildings. FIG. 8 shows a schematic view of an air conditioner, including an expansion valve 10, an indoor heat exchanger 20, a compressor 30, an outdoor heat exchanger 40, an oil separator 60, and an air conditioner 100. The air conditioner comprises an indoor unit and an outdoor unit. The indoor and outdoor units are connected to each other via a refrigerant flow channel, through which refrigerant flows between the indoor and outdoor units. Also, the outdoor unit has a compressor for compressing the refrigerant.
While flowing between the indoor and outdoor units through the refrigerant flow channel, the refrigerant absorbs or emits heat, based on phase change of the refrigerant, to control the temperature of indoor air. When the air conditioner is operated in cooling mode, for example, the refrigerant is evaporated in the indoor unit to absorb heat from the indoor air. Also, the refrigerant is condensed in the outdoor unit to emit heat.
Meanwhile, the compressor is one of moving parts of the air conditioner. For this reason, a large amount of oil is injected into the compressor to prevent wear of parts of the compressor due to friction between the parts of the compressor, partially cool heat generated when the refrigerant is compressed in the compressor, disperse fatigue of metal parts of the compressor, and prevent leakage of the compressed refrigerant through formation of oil film at a sealing line of the compressor.
When the refrigerant is compressed in the compressor, however, the oil injected into the compressor is mixed with the refrigerant. As a result, the compressed refrigerant is discharged out of the compressor together with the oil injected into the compressor. If refrigerant containing oil flows through the refrigerant flow channel, the oil may be accumulated in some parts of the refrigerant flow channel, and therefore, the refrigerant cannot smoothly flow. Furthermore, the amount of oil in the compressor is decreased, and therefore, performance of the compressor is deteriorated.